Evonik Oil Additives’ plant on Jurong Island, Singapore is now producing 40% of Evonik’s total global capacity, after its expansion, which nearly doubled the plant’s original capacity.

The celebration of the completion of the plant’s expansion was held today, 7 May, with Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board as guest of honor.

After seven years, said Patrik Wohlhauser, the plant was sold out, thus the decision to double the plant’s capacity.

“Evonik has a strong commitment to Asia and to Singapore as a production hub,” said Wohlhauser, a member of the executive board of parent Evonik Industries.

He explained that Evonik Industries had committed a total of EUR 5.5 billion (USD 6.19 billion) in capital investment from 2012-2016, of which EUR 3.3 billion (USD 3.71 billion) has already been spent, and “almost one-third went into this region.”

The company declined to disclose the total investment in the Evonik Oil Additives plant expansion and the plant’s new capacity, but “This is the largest of the five plants we have globally,” said Ralf Dussel, head of Evonik Oil Additives.

“We are producing 40% of our portfolio here and we also increased our manpower by 20%,” he added.

The plant manufactures about 50 products, which are tailor made for its customers who supply lubricants to the automotive and industrial segment.

“We have a value proposition for our customer—we want to boost their efficiency, we want to give them an edge against the competition,” he said. “The driver for our business is fuel economy,” he added.

During the two-year construction, Dussel said “we maintained full uninterrupted supply to our customers” and recorded more than 275,000 safe work hours.